The Battle of the Bismarck Sea took place in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II when aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a Japanese convoy carrying troops to Lae, New Guinea. Most of the Japanese task force was destroyed, and Japanese troop losses were heavy.
Operation Ke was the largely successful withdrawal of Japanese forces from Guadalcanal, concluding the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. The operation took place between 14 January and 7 February 1943, and involved both Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) and Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) forces under the overall direction of the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters (IGH). Commanders of the operation included Isoroku Yamamoto and Hitoshi Imamura.
The New Guinea campaign of the Pacific War lasted from January 1942 until the end of the war in August 1945. During the initial phase in early 1942, the Empire of Japan invaded the Australian-administered Mandated Territory of New Guinea and the Australian Territory of Papua and overran western New Guinea, which was a part of the Netherlands East Indies. During the second phase, lasting from late 1942 until the Japanese surrender, the Allies—consisting primarily of Australian forces—cleared the Japanese first from Papua, then the Mandate and finally from the Dutch colony.
Tokitsukaze was the tenth vessel to be commissioned in the 19-vessel Kagerō-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the late-1930s under the Circle Three Supplementary Naval Expansion Program.
Arashio was the fourth of ten Asashio-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the mid-1930s under the Circle Two Supplementary Naval Expansion Program.
Asashio was the lead ship of the ten Asashio-class destroyers built for the Imperial Japanese Navy in the mid-1930s under the Circle Two Program.
Chitose (千歳) was a warship of the Imperial Japanese Navy that served from 1938 to 1944, seeing service as a seaplane carrier and later as a light aircraft carrier during World War II. In her initial guise as a seaplane carrier, she first saw service during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1938, and subsequently played a key role in the Imperial Japanese Navy's development of a network of seaplane bases on the islands of the Pacific Ocean. After the outbreak of World War II in the Pacific, she took part in the Philippines campaign, the Dutch East Indies campaign, the Battle of Midway, and the Guadalcanal campaign, during which she was damaged in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and also saw service related to the Battle of Cape Esperance.
I-177 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaidai-type cruiser submarine of the KD7 subclass commissioned in 1942. She served during World War II, patrolling off Australia, taking part in the New Guinea campaign, operating in the North Pacific, and participating in the Palau campaign before she was sunk by the destroyer escort USS Samuel S. Miles (DE-183) in 1944, with no survivors.
The invasion of Salamaua–Lae, called Operation SR by the Japanese, was an operation by Imperial Japanese forces to occupy the Salamaua–Lae area in the Territory of New Guinea during the Pacific campaign of World War II. The Japanese invaded and occupied the location in order to construct an airfield and establish a base to cover and support the advance of Japanese forces into the eastern New Guinea and Coral Sea areas. The small Australian garrison in the area withdrew as the Japanese landed and did not contest the invasion.
I-74, later I-174, was an Imperial Japanese Navy Kaidai type cruiser submarine of the KD6B sub-class commissioned in 1938. During World War II, she took part in the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, the Guadalcanal campaign, the New Guinea campaign, and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign and operated off Australia before she was sunk during her ninth war patrol in 1944.
Rabaul is a town in Eastern New Britain, Papua New Guinea. Japanese forces landed on Rabaul on 23 February 1942, capturing it in February of that year. The former Australian territory was transformed into a major Japanese naval and air installation. The Japanese heavily relied on it, and used it as a launching point for Japanese reinforcements to New Guinea and Guadalcanal. Throughout the Solomons Campaign, neutralizing Rabaul became the primary objective of the Allied effort in the Solomons.
Kembu Maru was a 953-ton transport ship of Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Aiyo Maru was a 2,746-ton Type 1C Standard cargo ship/transport ship that was requisitioned from her owners 24 December, 1942. by the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Taimei Maru was a 2,883 ton transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Sin-ai Maru, also known as Shin-ai Maru was a 3,794 ton transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
SS Kyokusei Maru (Kanji:旭盛丸) was a 3,794 GRT transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
Oigawa Maru (大井川丸) was a 6,494 GRT transport ship of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
SS Saarland was a 6,870 ton German passenger ship, which was sold to Japan in 1940, renamed Teiyo Maru and used as troop transport ship by the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during World War II. It sank during the Battle of the Bismarck Sea with great loss of life.
I-6 was an Imperial Japanese Navy J2 type submarine commissioned in 1935. She was a large cruiser submarine that served in the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. During the latter conflict she operated in support of the attack on Pearl Harbor, torpedoed the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga (CV-3), conducted anti-shipping patrols in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific Ocean, and took part in the Aleutian Islands campaign and New Guinea campaign before she was sunk in June 1944.
Ro-103 was an Imperial Japanese Navy Ro-100-class submarine. Completed and commissioned in October 1942, she served in World War II, operating in the Solomon Islands, Rabaul, and New Guinea areas and sinking two cargo ships. She disappeared in July 1943 during her fifth war patrol.
Japan
Imperial Japanese Navy 
